Hacking probe clouds Swedish election result

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Hi-tech scandal cast its shadow over last weekend's Swedish elections after the incumbent Social Democratic Party accused its political rivals, the Liberal party, of hacking into its systems. The Social Democrats reckons that "someone linked to the Liberal Party" broke into its internal network to swipe election strategy information, Dagens Industri via AFX reports. Police have been asked to investigate the source of "hundreds of incidents" of unauthorised access, following complaints from the Social Democrats.

"Our computer systems have been illegally accessed. It was wide scale, systematic and has been going on for a long time," Social Democrat party treasurer Tommy Ohlstroem, said at a press conference ahead of the elections. The Liberal Party, part of the opposition centre right alliance which scored a narrow victory in Sunday's poll, said it would mount a technical investigation into the source of the suspected hack.

Meanwhile centre-right leader Fredrik Reinfedlt is in the process of establishing a new four-party co-coalition government after ending 12 years of Social Democrat rule with promises to cut taxes and trim welfare spending. Reinfeldt, 41, takes over the reins from prime minister Social Democrat leader Goran Persson, 57, after his Moderate Party-led coalition claimed 48.1 per cent of votes cast on Sunday against a 46.2 per cent share for the Social Democrats and its allies. The vote was enough to secure centre-right parties 178 seats in Sweden's 349-seat parliament, a small but workable majority of seven seats. ®